Milecastle 36

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Milecastle 36, also known as King’s Hill, is one of the milecastles on Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, England. It sits on King’s Hill about 800 metres northeast of Housesteads Roman Fort (grid reference NY79726931). Today there is little to see on the ground because the wall has been robbed and quarried. Most of the milecastle’s stones were removed in 1831, and only faint signs of the east and west walls remain as robber trenches. The interior is largely filled with wall rubble.

The site was excavated in 1946. It found a long, narrow milecastle. After the Hadrianic period, the south gate was destroyed and the north gate was rebuilt and then blocked.

Each milecastle had two small guard towers (turrets) about one-third and two-thirds of a Roman mile to the west. Milecastle 36’s turrets are Turret 36A (Kennel Crags) and Turret 36B (Housesteads).

- Turret 36A (Kennel Crags): grid NY79316915. Visible today only as a slight earth platform. Found in 1911 and excavated in 1946; it had narrow walls and an east door and seems to have been out of use before the end of Roman times.
- Turret 36B (Housesteads): grid NY78966884. Located inside Housesteads Fort; demolished when the fort was built. Its foundations remain, and the walls have been excavated and stabilized, reaching about 0.7 metres high.

Both Milecastle 36 and Turret 36A are accessible via the Hadrian’s Wall Path. The foundations of Turret 36B are inside Housesteads Fort and visible to visitors there.